XX. TRADE, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNICATION

GROVER G. HUEBNER and ROBERT RIEGEL

MERCHANT MARINE

Tonnage Afloat.-Official figures for | crease in total tonnage. Enrolled the year ending June 30, 1915, show vessels and licensed vessels showed a slight decrease of 0.8 per cent. in declines in number and tonnage. This the number, and an increase of 5.8 is not only a continuation of the tenper cent. in the tonnage, of the docu- dency noted in 1912, 1913 and 1914, mented merchant vessels of the Unit- when registered vessels were also ed States as compared with the pre- mainly responsible for the growth of ceding fiscal year. The number of our merchant marine, but results also vessels decreased from 26,943 to 26,- from the transfer of coastwise ves701, while the tonnage grew from sels to the lucrative North-Atlantic 7,928,688 to 8,389,429, the greatest trade. The total of 1,871,543 tons of absolute increase in tonnage in our registered shipping on June 30, 1915, history. The decline in the number exceeds that for any of the past 29 of vessels would have been greater years, and the increase in registered had it not been for an increase of 389 shipping during 1915 is three times vessels registered for the foreign as great as in the previous record year. trade, which division of tonnage was The following table shows the course almost entirely responsible for the in- of the documented marine since 1880:

marine in the United States increased to 8,469,649 tons during the last fiscal year. The increase was limited entirely to the foreign trade. The tonnage engaged in the domestic trade on the Great Lakes declined to 2,760,815, and that engaged in the coast

Of the total registered, enrolled and | licensed gross tonnage operating under the American flag on June 30, 1915, steamers contributed 68.9 per cent., sailing vessels 16.5 per cent., barges and canal boats 12.7 per cent., and motor boats (separately classified in 1915 for the first time) 1.9 perwise trade and the trade on the in

cent.

Statistics published by the Commissioner of Navigation in December indicate that the documented merchant marine in the foreign trade under the flag of the United States aggregated 2,191,715 tons on June 30, 1916, and that the entire documented merchant

land waterways declined to 3,517,119 tons. These figures show that while the total documented merchant marine of the country increased by 540,961 gross tons since the beginning of the European War, our shipping in the foreign trade alone increased by 1,115,563 gross tons.

Undocumented Craft. The above was almost entirely responsible for figures do not include many undocu- the gain in 1915, contributing 500,363 mented vessels, of which no reliable tons. The tonnage on this coast, recent statistics are available, no which comprised about 48 per cent. of count having been made since the the total tonnage in 1914, in 1915 1906 census report, which showed 19,- had grown to over 51 per cent. of the 497 such vessels with a gross tonnage total. Pacific coast tonnage, which of 6,579,402 tons. Detailed figures expanded by 56,090 tons in 1914, inwere given in the YEAR BOOK for 1910 creased by only 24,619 tons in 1915. (p. 523). Porto Rico showed a gain of 6,279 Geographical Distribution.-The At-tons, while Hawaii, the northern lakes, lantic-Gulf coast, which was an important factor in the increase of documented tonnage in 1913 and 1914,

Sailing Vessels Steam Vessels

and western rivers showed decreases. The distribution of vessels and tonnage on June 30, 1915, was:

931,588 3,539 2,489,584 5,126
8,538 9 5,400 11
251,845 1,036 683,879 2,178
1,503 21 11,152 19 706
190,928 1,615 2,478,043 733 9,902 593
72 732 113,358 929 16,823 170

84,312 2,809
173
50,478 1,315

790,401

16,591 4,295,885

100 14,111

123,057

4,972 1,109,259

44 13,361

139,136

3,161 2,818,009

8,551

Western Rivers..

1,833 138,804

Total...... 5,866 1,384,474 6,952 5,781,416 8,996 162,394 4,887 1,061,145 26,701 8,389,429

World's Merchant Marine.-The aggregate tonnage of the merchant vessels of the entire world in 1916 was reported by Lloyd's Register to be 48,683,136 tons (30,167 vessels), as compared with 49,261,769 tons (30,720 vessels) in 1915, 49,089,552 tons in 1914, 46,970,113 tons in 1913, 44,600,677 tons in 1912 and 43,147,154 in 1911. These figures, it should be noted, are not exact, because they include only vessels exceeding 100 tons, because they comprise the gross tonnage of steamers and the net tonnage of sailing vessels, and because the tonnage is stated in accordance with official certificates based on widely

|

varying measurement rules. The number and gross tonnage of steam vessels of the world, as reported in Lloyd's Register, are given in the table on the following page.

A compilation of the New York Journal of Commerce shows that from the beginning of the war to the end of 1915 about 990 vessels, aggregating 1,878,003 gross tons, were lost; and during 21 months of war preceding May 1, 1916, at least 1,216 vessels of 16 different nations, aggregating 2,462,259 gross tons. Of the latter total Allied shipping contributed 1,917,161 tons, or 78 per cent.; Teutonic shipping 196,396 tons, or 8 per cent.; and neutral shipping 348,702 tons, or 14 per cent. The detailed figures indicate that the rate of destruction increased during the first four months of 1916. In April, 1916, an average of 52,125 tons a week was destroyed.

Relative Position of American DeepSea Shipping.-The effects of the European War on American exports, the shortage in ocean tonnage, the rise in commodity prices, and the transfer of vessels to American registry are all reflected in the 1915 figures showing American and foreign carriage of imports and exports by sea.

Measured by the tonnage of vessels tirely due to a decline in available entered and cleared, also, American foreign tonnage as in 1915, for aside tonnage furnished a larger proportion from the relative increase, American than usual of the total deep-sea ship-shipping underwent an absolute inping. American vessels comprised 34.4 per cent. of the total tonnage of vessels entered and cleared at American ports during 1916, as compared with 28.5 per cent. in 1915 and 25.8 per cent. in 1914. This was not en

crease from 26,693,736 tons in 1915 to 35,808,975 tons in 1916. The following table contains the official figures of entrances and clearances of American and foreign vessels in the foreign trade since 1900:

Tonnage Built.-Although the number of vessels constructed increased from 1,151 during 1914 to 1,157 in 1915, the total tonnage decreased from 316,250 gross tons to 225,122 gross tons, continuing the tendency evident in 1914. The output for the

Total Shipping in the Foreign Trade. -The total vessel tonnage entered and cleared in the foreign trade showed an increase of 10,400,714 tons in the year ending June 30, 1916. Even this increase of 11 per cent., however, did not bring the total up to the amount entered and cleared in 1914. En-year 1915 is the smallest since 1898. trances increased from 46,710,466 tons in 1915 to 51,563,967 tons in 1916, and clearances from 46,885,008 tons in 1915 to 52,432,301 tons in 1916. The following table shows the tonnage entered and cleared by continents during the fiscal year 1916; comparison with the figures for 1915 shows the increase in tonnage to have been general for all continents:

The recent general tendency toward the construction of fewer vessels and these of greater individual tonnage, noted in previous issues of the YEAR Book, appears to have been halted, at least for a time. Nevertheless 23 vessels, or 1.9 per cent. of the total number constructed, furnished 57 per cent. of the total tonnage. The greater number of these were constructed on the Atlantic coast, the two largest being built for the Panama Canal administration and seven being bulk-oil carriers. Shipbuilding on the Great Lakes was at low ebb during the year 1915. The geographical distribution of the tonnage built in the United States in 1913, 1914 and 1915 was as follows:

of the total tonnage constructed, | marine and a naval auxiliary and for steamers comprised 142,449 tons; the regulation of shipping. The sailing vessels, 8,021 tons; barges, measure is a combination of the Ship 57,654 tons; motor boats, 12,541 tons; and canal boats, 4,457 tons. The steam tonnage was relatively less important than for several years, forming only 63.2 per cent. of the total tonnage constructed, as compared with 71 per cent. in 1914, 70.3 per cent. in 1913 and 66 per cent. in 1912.